Reg Mombassa puts fresh Shine on Sydney New Year’s Eve

Artist and musician Reg Mombassa will use his
unique vision and absurdist humour to help Sydney
Shine even brighter as Creative Ambassador for 2013
Sydney New Year’s Eve.

Among the motifs created by the
Glebe resident to characterise Australia’s biggest public
event are a high-rise Sydney Opera House and a single
‘all-seeing eye’ to represent the 2013 theme,
Shine.

Mr Mombassa’s illustrations for NYE13 will
adorn banners, buses and bus-stops across the city in the
lead up to the event and will also feature in the
much-anticipated and top-secret Bridge Effect, which is only
revealed at midnight on 31 December.

Lord Mayor Clover
Moore said Mr Mombassa was admired for his work with Mambo
clothing, pop-rock bands Mental as Anything and Dog Trumpet,
as well as the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics Closing
Ceremony.

“Reg is one of Australia’s greatest living
artists and cultural exports who cleverly combines
thoughtful insights with a signature irreverence, which
reflects our life and culture,” the Lord Mayor
said.

“His work is bold and colourful with an absurdist
humour that brings a smile to people’s faces, so his
unique vision is a perfect match for our biggest
event.

“It will be fantastic to see his striking designs
across Sydney and I can’t wait to see his rope-light
Bridge Effect during the fireworks displays.”

Mr
Mombassa, 61, worked with the City of Sydney’s NYE team
and Imagination Australia to develop the theme and said it
was exciting to be working on an event that reached more
than one billion people worldwide.

“It has been an
interesting and challenging job designing artwork for what
is arguably the biggest party in the world,” Mr Mombassa
said.

“I have used the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the
Opera House quite extensively in previous pictures so it was
a familiar and attractive proposition to do something based
on the harbour.

“Sydney NYE is an inspiring and happy
event where people get the opportunity to have a big party
and enjoy their city at its best. I hope people enjoy the
Shine theme. Some of the stuff that I do can be mildly
confrontational but I have stayed away from that and
produced images to suit the occasion, which is a
family-friendly and fun-filled event, and it should stay
that way.”

Mr Mombassa has been busy in his studio for
the past six months working on drawings to reflect the Shine
theme, as well as four panoramic works featuring his
interpretation of Sydney’s
villages.

Sydneysiders have the opportunity to see
these works up close at Mr Mombassa’s new exhibition,
Hallucinatory Anthropomorphism …
Semi-Abstract Paraphysical Manifestations of the Collective
Unconscious, which opens on Wednesday
19 June at Watters Gallery, 109 Riley Street, East Sydney.
The exhibition runs until Saturday 6 July.

Mr
Mombassa has also created tailor-made artworks for
Sydney’s smartpole banners, which will bring art and
colour to the city’s streets in the lead-up to
NYE13.

The NYE13 Shine theme reflects a city where the
sun, water and people all shine, while Mr Mombassa’s
‘all-seeing eye’ motif aims to encourage individualism
while also representing Sydneysiders’ singular vision to
live harmoniously.

“When I thought about the word Shine
there seemed to be so many options but in the end I decided
to go with the eye,” Mr Mombassa said.

“The eyes are
the most interesting part of the human face and there is
that idea of the eye being the window to the soul, as well
as the spiritual aspect of the third eye, from which shines
an invisible metaphysical laser beam.”

Last year’s
Creative Ambassador was pop princess Kylie Minogue, who
encouraged Sydneysiders to Embrace and the 2011
Creative Headliner was designer Marc Newson, who had a
Time to Dream theme.

The annual event attracts
about 1.6 million people to the Sydney Harbour foreshore,
while about 2.6 million people watch the 9PM Family
Fireworks and Midnight Fireworks displays on
television.

Sydney NYE is also the single most important
event, related to economic return in Sydney, generating
about $156 million for the local economy.

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